


Anew

by Anonymous



Category: Minecraft (Video Game), Video Blogging RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe - Reincarnation, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Family Dynamics, Fluff, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Parent Phil Watson (Video Blogging RPF), Reincarnation, Wilbur Soot and Technoblade and TommyInnit are Siblings, longfic attempt to prove i can, tags will be added as story progresses, typical sibling stuff
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-16
Updated: 2021-02-01
Packaged: 2021-03-14 09:27:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,303
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28793151
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/
Summary: “Welcome,” Techno started, pausing for dramatic effect, “To the lost city of L’Manberg!”It looked like it had once been a developed town, Wilbur's mind mind whispered to him, trained to recognise geographical features....There was something oddly familiar about it.-Or: Local history enthusiast drags his brother out to the ruins of a long-gone nation.
Relationships: Technoblade & TommyInnit (Video Blogging RPF), Wilbur Soot & Phil Watson, Wilbur Soot & Technoblade
Comments: 2
Kudos: 112
Collections: Anonymous





	1. Reluctant Companion

**Author's Note:**

> Base concept inspired by @qarameiio's comic panels of a Reincarnation AU.
> 
> The first couple of chapters will be Wilbur's POV before it switches to Technoblade's for the rest of the story.

“Come on Will, hurry up.” Technoblade’s usually monotone voice was tinged with excitement today, a sharp contrast to his regular tone.

Wilbur, lagging behind, let a small smile appear on his face before it was eclipsed by a furrowed brow and an annoyed shout back. “Shut up, it’s cold!”

The two brothers were trekking through ankle-high snow in an attempt to reach the latest historical site that Technoblade had been researching. This time, Philza was unable to accompany Techno on his endeavour, but had still mandated that he required a companion on his escapade. Of course, this had led to Wilbur’s current predicament; wrapped up in a scarf, under four heavy layers, yet still freezing in the middle of nowhere.

Technoblade pointedly ignored Wilbur’s look of absolute misery, too caught up in his exhilaration. Arriving at the base of a hill, Technoblade let out an uncharacteristic cackle and rubbed his hands together, his pink hair whipping around in the wind. “This is it! We’re here.” 

“I don’t see anything, Techno.” Wilbur said plaintively.

The only thing he could see for meters around was white snow and the occasional leafless, deciduous tree. For that matter, the only splotches of colour in the monochrome landscape were them; Techno’s hair and red jacket, along with Wilbur’s yellow jumper standing out easily among their surroundings, which appeared drained of life.

“No, we’re definitely in the right location. These  _ are _ ruins, after all.” Technoblade replied, surely. 

“Are you sure?”

“Yeah, just a little bit further.” He swept a few strands of hair away from his face before pressing on, continuing his own trek through the snow.

Wilbur groaned in exasperation. Staring at the footprints his brother left in the snow, he followed them back the way they had come, turning around and tracing their path until the footprints disappeared over the horizon. It was going to take a long time for them to get back to the warmth of the car.

“What did I tell you!” Technoblade’s voice echoed across the snowy plains, smugness oozing from it. “Here is is!”

He looked back to see Techno waving at him from ahead. Despite his assurances that they had arrived at their destination, the ruins were still very much out of Wilbur’s field of vision. Wearily, he followed Techno’s footsteps forwards. The sooner Technoblade had his fill of exploring, the sooner they could go home.

“Welcome,” Techno started, pausing for dramatic effect, “To the lost city of L’Manberg!”

Wilbur walked up to Techno’s side, peering ahead at what had previously looked like another field of snow and ice. Unexpectedly, the land dropped away into a deep gorge with no visible path leading down to its centre, rotting timbers sticking out at random along the walls of the ravine. Around the edge of the pit, crumbling and decaying structures formed out of wood and stone lay, more often than not ending abruptly where the canyon began. 

It looked like it had once been a developed town, his mind whispered to him, trained to recognise geographical features. It looked like the victim of an explosion, age-old rubble resting at the bottom of the chasm’s gaping maw, able to be made out with his naked eye despite how bottomless it appeared from the top.

There was something oddly familiar about it.

He tore his gaze away from the crater, instinctively resting them on Technoblade, half-relying on him to provide some kind of- any kind of comfort, but was sorely disappointed. His brother was looking upon the city ruins with a fanatical gleam in his eyes, lost to the world. Wilbur had seen this before, it was typical of Techno whenever he indulged in his personal obsessions, but this time it just seemed wrong.

Technoblade’s name had to be called four times before he snapped out of the reverie he had fallen into. When he did, his bewildered expression both annoyed, relieved and stressed Wilbur out in a perplexing cocktail of emotions that he wished never to experience again.

“Are you crying?” The first words that Technoblade spoke baffled him, expressing both dubiety and an undercurrent of worry.

Wilbur started. “What? No, I’m not.” He would have known if he had started to cry. What would be even be crying about, regardless? There wasn’t anything sad about the historical site; the events that had occurred were long past.

“...” The silent judgement hung in the air for a moment, before Technoblade decided to not press the matter. “Alright, Wilbur.”

When Techno turned around to begin a further exploration of the ruins, Wilbur brought a hand up to his eyes. He brought it away wet.

Wilbur scrubbed his face, confused. What about this place evoked such an intense emotion in him? Wiping his face on the sleeve of his sweater, he did his best to sweep those thoughts into the back of his mind, following Technoblade’s tracks further into the historical site.

“Techno, how long do you want to explore for?” He yelled over the howling wind, doing his best to make himself heard.

His brother’s words were snatched away by a passing gust, leaving his words inaudible. Sighing, he resigned himself to having to wade through the settled snowflakes. Despite his best efforts, the feelings of nostalgia and a hint of grief lingered, ever-present. With only themselves among the haunted ruins of a lost country, Wilbur supposed it was a by-product of being at a site with so much tragic history.

What had happened to L’Manberg? He wondered pensively, hugging himself in a valiant attempt to conserve heat. Why was there a ravine that seemingly split the country into two resting among the ruins? Had it appeared before or after the country had disbanded? It saddened him to think about it.

This was the reason why Wilbur preferred geography over history, a factor that set them apart. History always reminded him of the terrible lows that humanity could stoop to, and unlike Technoblade, who relished in those reminders and actively used them to fuel his nihilism, it only made Wilbur upset. Any news station could tell you of the atrocities committed by their species; he didn’t want one of his passions to do the same.

On the other hand, geography showed the wonders that humanity could create. It showed how humans could flourish despite their natural environment posing dangers to their survival; showed how humans shaped and were shaped by their surroundings. Unlike history, which analysed societies long past, geography illustrated the wonders humanity had created with the resources they were given.  And on days when he was tired with everything the human world had to offer, geography could comfort him with knowledge of forces stronger than people could hope to control. Tornadoes, hurricanes, weather patterns, volcanoes, landforms and how they came to be - no matter what, he could always take comfort in geography. History could get bent.

Not that he would ever say that out loud to Technoblade.

He crossed a snowdrift to get to his brother, and tapped his shoulder, repeating his initial question. This time, the response was discernible.

“Maybe half an hour?” Techno suggested, turning his attention away from the ruins of a house and towards Wilbur.

He huffed, shivering. “I’ll be timing you.”

“Fine.” The response was short, wasting none of the 30 minutes that he had left.

As Technoblade brushed some snow off a wooden beam, Wilbur took note of the current time. Half an hour before he could leave this all behind.

Just half an hour. Was that even a large amount of time? Surely it wasn’t, he had spent hours on GeoGuessr in the past. He could easily handle half an hour freezing his ass off in the middle of nowhere.

Five minutes later, Wilbur found that half an hour was an incredibly long time to spend outside, especially with softly drifting snowflakes landing on his glasses and obscuring his vision every second. Frustrated, he turned his gaze to Techno, who had moved on, and was currently skirting the large pit in order to get to the next house.

He looked like he was having the time of his life.

And don’t get him wrong, Wilbur was happy for Technoblade - it was rare to see his brother this enthused, and he had been glad to accompany him. But nearly an hour spent in temperatures below zero degrees celsius would take a toll on anyone, and at this current point in time, he was very much regretting the decisions that had led him to this point. If he hadn’t already agreed to come out here, he’d be on the way back to the car.

Unfortunately, there was nothing that he could do at this point, so Wilbur was trapped here for another 25 minutes. Perhaps pacing would help. He sat down on a rocky outcrop, somewhat sheltered from the elements, and pulled his knees up to his chin.

Gazing into the abyss, he let his mind wander.

Wilbur broke out of his thoughts when he heard his own voice called. Quickly tuning into reality again, he stood up, dusting snow off his clothes as he rose. His movements indicated his position to Technoblade easily, a combination of his height and the vibrant sweater he was wearing helping in this regard.

“Oh, there you are!” Techno called. “I’m done exploring, thanks for the extra time.”

He started. “The extra- what?” Rolling up his sleeve to peer at his watch, he found that it was 8 minutes past the time limit he had given Techno. “Oh.”

Wilbur felt a little dazed; set off-kilter. Where had the past half an hour gone? He had been dreading it so much, but before he even knew it, it was time to leave. He did a double-take, looking back to the site briefly, ignoring the pang he felt upon doing so, and the confusion that came about as a result. What on earth…? Had Technoblade already finished exploration?

“Was it unintentional?” Techno asked, not expecting an answer. “Ah, and here I was thinking you’d finally decided to be a nice person.”

“Oh, fuck off.” As if rising from a deep slumber, the snarky comment revived a fire deep within his chest, and he easily pushed away the perplexing feelings.

Techno smirked. “Let’s go.”

Feeling a little warmth return to his body, Wilbur gladly followed his brother away from the ruins.


	2. Illusory Immolation

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Wilbur and Philza family dynamic au hurt/comfort.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Formatting was acting up, since I made the switch from Docs > Word.

There is a grey wall in front of him.

Wilbur steps forward and the wall melts into a red and white blur, turning into liquid gold and then he’s going up, up, up before scattering into pieces as feathers fall around him, flashes illuminating and obscuring his vision before his body lights up in flames. He looks down, and his arms are charred black.

He wakes with a shout, a sharp smell in his lungs, tears pouring down his cheeks and lingering pain consuming his body. Choking on a mix of his own saliva and tears, he jerked upright into a sitting position, holding back another yell.

Wilbur hoped he hadn’t woken up anybody else. That wish died almost immediately as the door to his room opened, only a firm grip on its doorknob preventing it from slamming against his cupboard, waking up everyone else in the house. Phil peered in, concern painted across his face.

“Will?”

The questioning whisper, filled with worry, acted as a trigger. Wilbur grabbed the towel for his hair lying on his pillow and gagged into it, struggling to breathe as quiet gasps filling to otherwise silent room. He felt the side of his bed depress and a hand on his back, Phil’s voice murmuring comforting words as he began to calm down.

When the tears began to ebb away, Wilbur lowered the towel to meet Phil’s concerned eyes. He quickly averted his own, cheeks burning red with humiliation. The last time he had had a nightmare this bad was years and years ago, when he was still a child.

Phil, on his part, remained silent for a moment, looking over Wilbur, pulling the soiled towel away from Wilbur and dropping it on an empty section of floor. Then, he spoke. “How are you feeling, Will?”

“Pretty shit, to be honest.” His speech came out croaky, slightly hoarse and sleepy. He flushed further, continuing to avoid eye-contact.

“That’s to be expected.” Phil said softly. “Are you comfortable with sharing?”

Mutely, he shook his head, feeling terrible for doing so.

Phil accepted his rejection kindly. “Do you know what caused it?”

He made to repeat his previous motion, before pausing, distant memories of the historical site that he and Techno had visited yesterday welling up, along with the indescribable emotions that it had evoked.

Wilbur opened his mouth, then closed it.

Sensing his hesitation, Phil made to reassure him. “You don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to.”

His heart warmed at the compassion that Phil showed him. No matter what, he could always rely on his dad to be there for him. As a young boy, Phil was often the one who comforted him after a nightmare; who consoled him after a bad experience at school; who made sure that he was alright an injury. It wasn’t a new realisation by any means, but the reminder was what opened the floodgates.

He opened his mouth and let it relay the events that had happened yesterday – the location that Techno had brought him to, the way that it reminded him of something that he had never been to, and the strange sentiments that he felt upon viewing it.

“I’m not sure if that’s the cause, but if it wasn’t that, then I’m not sure what it was.” Wilbur confided.

A contemplative expression appeared on Phil’s face as he thought about it. Wilbur watched curiously as it flickered from thoughtful to mediative to pensive and back again, keeping a hand on Phil to ground himself.

Finally, he made a proposal.

“This might seem like a crazy idea, but how ‘bout we check out the site again to see if we can find anything that would explain it?” His startled expression must have given himself away because Phil quickly elaborated. “You said Techno was the one who did most of the exploration, right? How about we go out to take a closer look?”

Wilbur blinked, rebooting his brain quickly. Had he heard right?

“But- But it’s pitch black out there.” He was sure that it was either ridiculously late or ridiculously early. If it wasn’t for the obnoxiously bright streetlamps on the street, he wouldn’t be able to tell his hand from his foot.

“We’ll bring torches.”

It was a stupid, impulsive idea.

“Yeah, alright.”

Which was how they found themselves driving out to the site at five o’clock in the morning, clad in their warmest winter apparel. Each equipped with a torch and spare batteries.

In the half hour that it took to reach the site, they chatted about meaningless things, such as Tommy’s latest shenanigans and what Kristen had done recently at work. Eventually, their talk turned to the topic of L’Manberg itself – or more specifically, what little Wilbur knew about it.

While he had not personally explored it, he had been exposed to more of Techno’s ramblings about the site than Phil, and he willingly shared the information that he had retained from those sessions. It was a relief to share a bit of the burden that he had subconsciously been carrying since his first visit, and not for the last time, he was glad that he had talked to Phil.

They arrived at the site shortly. Immediately after stepping out of the car, Wilbur regretted coming out this early in the morning, before the sun even had a chance to warm the air up. Even though the wind speed was lower than it had been yesterday, the lack of sunlight made up for it. However, it would be a waste of time to turn back now.

Bracing himself, he pulled his beanie down and his scarf up, prepared to wade through a kilometre of snow. Phil was wrapped up just as much, if not more than him, so they should be fine.

It took a while for them to reach L’Manberg, but once they did, both stopped in their tracks. The light from their torches failed to reach the bottom of the canyon, so the only thing visible was the sides of the crater. Below, there was an abyss, and even the far edge of the pit disappeared into blackness. In the irregular lighting, the dilapidated buildings and beams sticking out of the ground cast long shadows, giving the place an eerie look.

When Phil next spoke, he seemed almost breathless. “I can see what you mean.”

“Hm?”

“About the emotions that the site evokes. There’s something tragic about this place.”

A relieved smile stretched across Wilbur’s face under the scarf. “Oh, thank goodness. I thought I was going insane when Techno didn’t mention anything.”

“Well, you’ve got to consider that Techno doesn’t emote a lot. You probably wouldn’t know if he did or not.” Phil suggested.

"No,” he denied with absolute certainty, “I don’t think Techno did.”

Phil raised an eyebrow, yet let it slide. “Well, we’re here now.” He said lightly, breaking the tension that had begun to accumulate. “Do you want to explore?”

Wilbur checked the time on his phone. 4:38AM. They had time.

“Sure. Maybe we’ll be able to find some clues.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Progress is being made, despite my inclinations towards genshin impact fic recently :P Staying hopeful for completion. I think setting a 1k-2k chapter/week goal was a good idea.
> 
> Feedback welcome :)


	3. The Clock is Ticking

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Who's the early bird now, Technoblade?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i swear i didn't forget... i swear...
> 
> switches to techno's POV for the rest of the story.

Techno jerked awake at approximately 6:24 in the morning. He blinked slowly, orienting himself, before getting out of bed to begin his daily morning routine. Picking up a hardcopy cover of The Slavery Of Our Times, he moved towards the bathroom, his other hand clumsily settling his glasses on the bridge of his nose.

This was typical. At around this time, he would be the only one awake. In about 36 minutes, Phil’s alarm would go off, then he would rouse from his slumber and begin pottering around the house. At any point between half past seven and eleven o’clock, both Wilbur and Tommy would awaken and begin causing a ruckus, so he would have to maximise the time that he had to read in peace.

He walked downstairs, and this was about when everything began to go downhill.

The first irregularity was that the cupboard door was open. Technoblade shut it softly, trying not to wake up the other occupants of the house, keeping his nose in his book.

The second irregularity was that his groping hand, reaching for the door handle to the kitchen, met nothing but air. This caused him to pay a bit more attention. He lowered the book in one hand, keeping a finger between the pages to mark his position. The door was open.

“Wha-” A surprised gasp escaped his lips.

Knowing for certain that he had been the last one awake, finding the kitchen door open meant that somebody had woken up between then and now. In any other family, he was sure that would appear irrelevant, but he knew that everyone in his slept like dead logs.

Technoblade set his book down on the kitchen island, face-down and open, then peered into the sink. Two empty mugs of a brown substance. From the smell, probably coffee, he surmised.

Two mugs. Coffee.

He did a double-take, turning on his heel and opening the closet door that he had shut a minute prior. The final puzzle pieces clicked together when he saw that both Wilbur’s favourite yellow jacket and Phil’s dark green coat were missing. What had possessed them to go out before the sun was even up? They were still an hour and a half away from sunrise, and if they were nowhere to be found, the two must have left even earlier.

Closing his eyes, then reopening them, just to make sure that he definitely awake, Techno found that to his dismay, he was. A mixture of confusion and worry began to weigh down on him, contemplating the whys and whens of their departure as he made his way back to the kitchen. He ultimately decided to try not to worry about it, and picked up his book to continue reading.

When he turned the book around, he found a sticky post-it note nestled between the pages that hadn’t been there before.

‘gone to the ruins u took me to, will be back soon. took dad.’ read his brother’s rushed scrawl.

Techno frowned. Wilbur hadn’t appeared to have enjoyed the visit yesterday that much - heck, he had even ended up crying when they had reached the site as a result of the biting cold. Taking that into account, why would he decide to voluntarily return so soon, and so early in the day?

He did his best to shrug it off. When they returned, he could question them.

An alarm ringing and Tommy screaming from upstairs broke Technoblade out of the hazy state he had fallen into while engrossed in the book, ignorant of his surroundings. His conscious briefly visits the thought of ‘I thought I had more time before Tommy woke up’ before he realises that the alarm must be Phil’s - without their father to silence it, it just continued ringing.

He hears a loud thud that sounds like Tommy had flung open Phil’s door, and winces openly at the dent in the wall that would have made. The alarm stops seconds later, the house finally falling silent again. His moment of peace is broken almost immediately by more thumps, this time getting closer and closer.

Tommy emerged from the stairwell soon enough, half-dressed and a scowl already on his face. “Where’d dad go?” He whined.

“Out.” Techno replied shortly, trying to ignore his younger brother.

“Where?” Tommy asked again, as if he had suddenly gone deaf.

“Out.” He repeated, gritting his teeth.

Tommy grumbled loudly as he blinked the sleep out of his eyes, unused to being awake this early. The drawers opened quickly, one after the other, cutlery and tableware clinking into each other and creating an awful racket. “He didn’t turn off his stupid alarm.”

“I heard, thanks.” Techno said blandly.

“Well, you don’t need to sound like such a smartass about it!” Tommy snapped, waving a plate in his general direction. “How long has dad been out for? Did Wilbur go with him? I checked his room, but it was empty.”

Techno sighed. “I don’t know when he left, but Wilbur is with him, so they should be fine. They went to the ruins that Wilbur and I visited yesterday.”

Taking a moment to glance out of the window, Tommy squinted at Techno. “Before sunrise?”

“Don’t give me that- that suspicious look. Why would I lie to you about this?” Techno threw a hand up into the air, exasperated. “Honestly. Here’s the note Wilbur left, read it yourself.”

He took half a minute to do so before piping up again. “Does this not concern you at all?”

Diverting a little attention towards his brother, Techno asked for clarification. “Does what not concern me?”

“Them being outside in the cold!”

“Look, just wait for them to return.” He said, matter-of-factly. “Be quiet now.”

Tommy’s brow creased, and he wiped some condensation off the front window for a clearer view. He pressed his face against it, looking out into the front yard. When he spoke again, leaving a face-shaped imprint on the cold glass, his tone held a smidgen of urgency. “Techno, there’s a fresh layer of snow where the car was.”

He took a couple of seconds to comprehend the statement. “What.”

“Didn’t you look out of the window?”

Placing his book back down on the table, he rubbed his eyes and looked up. “Only briefly, it’s pitch black out there. What was there to see?”

Without him noticing, worry had begun to trickle into his voice.

“They must have been gone for ages...” Tommy wondered.

And ages it had been. Casting his memory back to earlier that morning, Technoblade realised with seeping dread that the light snow had stopped soon after he had woken up, and the height of snow settled on the lawn - compared to last night’s - told him that there hadn’t been a massive storm right before he awakened. It would have taken about an hour for the snow layer to form, meaning that Wilbur and Phil had been out for-

“What time is it?” He asked sharply, even as he turned to the clock on the wall. “Nearly eight, shit.”

“You swore!” Tommy’s eyes gleamed with childish mischief as he pointed it out, quickly becoming distracted. 

“Oh, shut up. I’ll go to the L’Manberg ruins to look for them.” Technoblade headed for the hall closet as he spoke. “Call Tubbo. Someone needs to be responsible for you; if you’re home on your own, I’ll come back to flames licking at the wood.”

“Oi!”

Tommy’s face twisted as it wavered between different expressions, before it settled on indignant. He opened his mouth, but but before he could say anything, Techno shut the front door on his face. “I’ll be back in an hour.”

Despite his younger brother’s immaturity, Techno was sure that he recognised the gravity of the situation, and trusted him to follow instructions. Sure enough, he heard quick footsteps heading upstairs before Tommy’s voice drifted through his open window. “Tubbo, Technoblade literally just-!”

That was all he heard before he got into the car, Tommy’s furious tone fading into nothing. A wide grin stretched across his face as he starting the engine, waiting for the heating to start working. The satisfaction that came with messing with Tommy soon faded, however, as his thoughts turned to their two wayward family members.

They had better have a really good reason for their excursion.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> underestimated my available time and writing speed. will at least get two more chapters out. hopefully inspiration returns.

**Author's Note:**

> I have the story planned out, a couple chapters as a back-up and will continue writing as I go, so I'm hoping to be able to sustain this long-term project by updating every Saturday :)  
> However, it's probably going to be minimally edited because the planned end wordcount is so much greater than that of my usual one-shots.


End file.
